Alibaba Falls As Antitrust Fine Pulls Firm Into Red

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares were down 3% in Thursday’s premarket following a quarterly loss brought on by a $2.78 billion antitrust fine.

The 5.47-billion-yuan ($848 million) loss for the March quarter surprised traders who expected the Chinese internet giant to report a profit.

Alibaba said its loss from operations was 7.66 billion yuan as a result of the fine. Discounting the fine, its income from operations would be 10.56 billion yuan, a 48% year-on-year rise.

Revenue came at 187.39 billion, up 64% year-over-year.

Alibaba would be hoping for an end to its troubles that started sometime in November when founder Jack Ma vaguely criticized the regulators. Immediately following that, the $34.5 billion initial public offering of Alibaba’s affiliate, Ant Group, had to be called off. That set the troubles for the group going.